Avifauna of the Patía Valley

Abstract

The Patía Valley is a little known region from the point of view of its fauna and flora. Since colonial times, travelers and naturalists who crossed New Granada from Bogotá to Quito generally avoided the hot and unhealthy regions of the Patía, following the mountainous path of the Central Cordillera. Thus, the Patía Valley has remained unknown in many aspects of its natural resources.

The collections and studies of the avifauna of the region began with the expedition of Goodfellow and Hamilton in 1989, who made the first systematic collection of birds in the Patía Valley. Unfortunately, however, during the same expedition, specimens were lost in the northern part of Ecuador.

More recently, Kjell Von Sneidern collected some specimens that he sent to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, whose data were published by Meyer de Schauensee (1948, 1952, 1964, 1966). Carlos F. Lehman also obtained in the region of Guachicono. El Borde y Mojarras, in 1965, about 50 specimens for his private collection, material that we had the opportunity to review and that today happily is in the care of the zoology laboratory of the Universidad del Valle. Other significant information is provided by G. Wallace (1958), who published his observations on migratory birds arriving in Colombia, noting some species that reach the Patía Valley.

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